


I reject canon

by AlpineFresh



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Fix-It, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Ranboo is a Good Friend, Technoblade and TommyInnit are Siblings (Video Blogging RPF), Time Travel Fix-It, fuck canon all my homies hate canon, no beta we die like my heart after Tommy's stream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:09:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29797941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlpineFresh/pseuds/AlpineFresh
Summary: “I’m sorry, I didn’t think he’d do it…"Ranboo blinked, looking down at his communicator with a shaking hand.But that couldn’t- there was no way Tommy was actually dead, right? There was no way… Tommy wouldn’t go out that way, he was too stubborn to die like that. He had to be-But.. But the death message was right there.It didn’t feel real.Ranboo hurled his comm to the ground with a strangled screech, watching the screen shatter through blurred vision.This wasn’t right. He wouldn’t stand for this- not again, not this time.---(AKA, Ranboo gets to pop off and save Tommy because wtf you can't just kill Tommy like that??? Not on my watch at least)
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Toby Smtih | Tubbo, Ranboo & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 31
Kudos: 463





	I reject canon

**Author's Note:**

> What the actual fuck- what the heck. This is the worst time to be hit by a heavy angst stream, I just started a goddamn multichapter fic I don't have time to be writing about SMP angst-
> 
> TW: Mentions of death, disassociation(?),

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think he’d do it…”

Ranboo blinked, looking down at his communicator with a shaking hand.

But that couldn’t- there was no way Tommy was actually dead, right? There was no way… Tommy wouldn’t go out that way, he was too stubborn to die like that. He had to be-

But.. But the death message was _right there_.

It didn’t feel real.

Tubbo. Tubbo was best friends with Tommy- he had to make sure Tubbo was okay.

He forcefully shoved the comm into his pocket and turned his attention to Tubbo, fully expecting to see a face full of tears.

Nothing.

Tubbo was... smiling? Why was he smiling? He laughed, shaking his head at Sam as if the man was speaking nonsense.

What were the five stages of grief?

The first was denial, right?

But- _no, no, no, no-_ Tommy _wasn’t dead._ It was a lie- a sick hoax, or _something._

He remembered Tommy, the teen who had always been so full of fire, even when faced with the worst situations. Even in exile, he still found the energy to fight back- to yell defiance in the face of adversity and come out on top no matter how the odds stacked against him.

Tommy wasn’t dead. Ranboo refused to believe such a story, it wasn’t _real._

So Ranboo laughed along nervously with Tubbo’s jokes and remarks, keeping a close eye on his friend as they returned to their construction site.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Ranboo asked Tubbo for the fifth time in ten minutes.

Tubbo waved a dismissive hand, busying himself with placing down the glazed terracotta in the correct positioning. “Of course. It’s not like he’s actually dead, or anything.”

Ranboo felt numb, “Yeah, you’re right... I’m just- I’m being silly.” The words were sour in his mouth.

His insides were twisting up and the tip of his tail was twitching. He flexed his claws in a repetitive manner, trying to dispel the unease that stuck to him like honey in any way he could.

What about Techno and Phil? They cared about Tommy, right? What were they thinking right now?

_Did they care about Tommy?_ Maybe Techno cared at one point- but certainly not anymore…

This felt _wrong._ It wasn’t supposed to go like this, it was supposed to _be better._

Someone grabbed his arm and he quickly tore himself away with an uneasy warble and bared teeth.

Tubbo’s eyebrows were pinched together in oblivious confusion. “Are _you_ okay, big guy?”

Ranboo sucked in a deep breath, closing eyes and gripping his sleeves in his fingertips as tightly as possible for a few short seconds. He met Tubbo’s gaze evenly and flashed a reassuring smile. “Yeah… Yeah, I’m fine. I think I’m gonna head home now, feeling a little out of it,” he responded, pouring all of his acting abilities into coming across as just a little tired.

The other teen easily returned the smile, dusting off his trousers. “Right! I think I’ll be heading back home now as well. I’ve been trying to fix my sleep schedule recently, so I am just _so_ incredibly tired right now,” Tubbo admitted with a laugh.

_“Mmhm,”_ Ranboo hummed, finding it harder and harder to keep the smile on his face.

He bid Tubbo a hasty farewell before slinking into the shadows cast by the setting sun.

His pace was brisk down the path, walking without seeing where he was going.

This wasn’t fine, none of this was okay. Things were supposed to be different this time- he thought things were _different this time._

Ranboo halted in front of the prison entrance. He took the comm out of his pocket again with jerky movements and clicked it on.

_TommyInnit was slain by Dream_

It was real. Tommy was- Tommy was _dead._

Ranboo felt sick as he stared at the message. What was Tommy thinking while he was locked up with his abuser, left at Dream’s non-existent mercy?

Did he put on a brave front? Mocking Dream and making as much noise as he could, just for the sake of getting on the man’s nerves?

Or was he scared?

When the lava didn’t go back down, and Tommy discovered he would be trapped there for an entire week- did his breath catch on the fear in his throat?

Did he look at the white porcelain mask that had already caused him so much pain and tremble with the knowledge that there was nowhere else to run? Trapped in a small obsidian box, forced to listen to the slow popping of lava and grit his teeth through Dream’s rasped words and attempts at twisting the narrative built up in his mind.

Did he cry for help? Beg for safety and be met only by the drawn on smile of Dream’s mask?

Ranboo hurled his comm to the ground with a strangled screech, watching the screen shatter through blurred vision.

_This was his fault. He should have tried harder to fix things._

He grabbed at the sides of his head with scrunched closed eyes, guttural screeches tearing through his throat as he pulled on his hair.

Acid burned in his chest and tore him apart from the inside out.

_This wasn’t right. He wouldn’t stand for this- not again, not this time._

_“S-stop, Dream stop it, gck-”_

Ranboo’s eyes shot open, ears perked and alert, instincts screaming at him to protect.

Dream had Tommy pinned to the porous obsidian floor, hands wrapped around the teen’s neck and getting tighter.

Rage flared inside of Ranboo, overtaking any semblance of fear he held towards the masked man. He launched himself forward with a furious shriek, purple particles swirling as he descended upon Dream much faster than he should have.

He slammed Dream into the floor with an almost unnecessary amount of force, a low snarl rumbling deep in his throat. **_“I’m sick of you messing things up again and again and again.”_ **Ranboo growled in endspeak, gripping tightly at the man’s wrists, keeping him pinned on the floor.

All he got in response was a winded cough and an attempt to break free of his hold.

Ranboo growled in warning and tightened his grip.

There was a choked whimper from behind him and his heart clenched painfully.

**_“Pull anything like this again and I swear that you’ll have hell to pay for your wrongdoings.”_ ** Ranboo tore the mask from Dream’s face, severing the magic that held it in place.

He stood up tall and planted a boot on the man’s chest. He took a moment to inspect the mask, frowning at the markings that would normally knock the air from his lungs and send him spiraling. 

Now, though, he felt nothing. Not an ounce of fear or doubt, he just wanted it out of his sight.

Ranboo bared his teeth before tossing it to the wall of lava. The lava sizzled as it hungrily ate up the smooth porcelain, part of Ranboo considered tossing Dream in after it.

He sighed. He couldn’t- he wasn’t meant to be the one to take the megalomaniac's last life.

The hybrid stepped away with a lashing tail and flattened ears. He didn’t bother to look back at Dream’s face. He didn’t need to.

Tommy was curled up against the wall, hands on his throat and tears in his dull blue eyes.

Ranboo knelt down and gingerly picked the teen up in his arms, biting his lip when he felt just how much Tommy was shaking. Able to feel the quick pulse under his fingertips and hear the stutter in his shallow breaths.

“You’re safe now, Tommy. I’m getting you out of here,” Ranboo murmured, hugging the frail teen protectively to his chest.

A low _vworp_ reverberated in his skull, soft purple magic enveloping them and tugging at invisible strings in his chest.

His vision went spotty as the world seemed to sway and tilt underfoot. A wall of cold air hit him, though he didn’t have the energy left to shiver.

A familiar voice reached his drooped ears. The words refused to come through, but he felt relief wash over him and untense his muscles regardless.

His legs buckled and sent him tumbling into waiting arms, though his own arms stayed stubbornly locked around Tommy. 

His mind went dark.

\---

Ranboo nuzzled deeper into his blankets, trilling a contented purr.

Maybe he was just really tired, but they seemed much warmer than usual.

Alarm flashed through him when he heard a distinctly human sounding grumble from within his arms. 

Ranboo scrambled into a sitting position, blinking sleep from his eyes as he looked around in confusion.

He wasn’t in his bed, or even the bed that Tubbo had made for him at Snowchester.

He was in an unfamiliar room, surrounded by heavy blankets and fluffy pillows. Curled up in those blankets was Tommy, blond hair sticking up at random angles and dark purple hand-shaped bruises covering his neck.

_“Holy cow,”_ Ranboo mumbled, running a hand through his hair.

He had so many questions. Where was he? Why the heck was Tommy here? Wasn’t he stuck in prison with Dream for at least a few more days?

_Dream…_

A large part of him filled with contempt at the thought of the masked man, the nearly _overwhelming_ desire to punch him in his smug face.

Ranboo narrowed his eyes at the bruises littering Tommy’s scarily thin form.

That horrible manipulative _megalomaniac._ Ranboo might not remember where he was or how he got there, but he knew with a _certainty_ that Dream was the cause for Tommy’s injuries.

Ranboo held his breath as Tommy rolled over, mumbling something unintelligible into the pillows.

It was probably high time that he go check out where the heck they were.

He carefully crawled out of the bed, doing his best not to wake Tommy up in the process.

Every creak of the floorboards seemed amplified in his ears, wincing at every little noise. But he kept going, because he knew he wouldn’t be able to relax until he made sure they were safe.

Any concerns he had melted away the second he opened the door and was greeted by a giant polar bear with a collar and name tag marked _‘Steve’_ around its neck.

The bear lumbered over to Ranboo with a friendly chuff, pressing its head into his chest.

Ranboo couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face, wrapping his arms around Steve’s fluffy neck. “Good to see you too, Steve.”

He saw the front door open and in entered Techno with an armful of cut logs, kicking the door shut behind him.

“Oh, hello Techno… Would you happen to know how I got here? And why Tommy’s here too?” Ranboo asked hopefully, eager to fill in some blanks.

The piglin hybrid grunted, kneeling by the fire to set down the logs nearby to dry off. The man stood back up with a sigh, looking Ranboo over. “I was kinda hopin’ you’d be able to tell me what was goin’ on,” Techno admitted.

Ranboo pursed his lips. “Ah, I see…”

They fell into awkward silence, Techno busying himself with opening the blinds while Ranboo struggled to remember anything about the previous day.

All he could think about was the fierce hatred whenever he thought of Dream and the bruises marring Tommy’s neck. The growing desire to return the favour and steal the air away from the masked man’s lungs, to leave him battered and bruised on the ground like he did to Tommy.

Ranboo startled at the thought, inhaling sharply at the image of the half-conscious teen being strangled to death by Dream.

“I think- I don’t know if you heard about this- but Tommy got stuck in the prison cell with Dream a few days back thanks to a _security issue._ And, well,” his stomach lurched uncomfortably, “I think he was going to kill Tommy,” Ranboo guessed quietly, wrapping his arms around himself.

Techno paused in his fiddling, “Huh… That still doesn’t really explain how you guys got here though.”

“What?”

“There weren’t any footprints in the snow. Did you finally learn how to teleport or something? Is this where I become irrelevant?”

Ranboo felt his mind blank. “No, I… I don’t know how to teleport, that’s not something I can do, unless…” He mumbled, bringing a hand up to his chin.

He saw Techno shrugging from the edge of his vision, “Just statin’ my observations,” Techno said nonchalantly.

Ranboo was about to deny it once again when he heard a muffled cough from behind him.

He didn’t even have time to think before he was bursting into the room with baited breath and a sharp gaze.

Tommy was sitting up on the edge of the bed, rubbing at his neck with one hand while the other tightly clutched at the blankets. A grimace seemed to be permanently twisted into his features, no doubt in pain.

“How are you feeling, is there anything I can do to help?” Ranboo asked softly.

The teen flinched at the sound of his voice, glaring distrustfully at the hybrid. 

“I- water,” Tommy rasped out anyway.

Ranboo nodded quickly, hurrying over to the kitchen to fill up a glass. He couldn’t find it in himself to care when water splashed onto his hands, leaving burning marks on his skin. They would heal in a day or two at most.

He paid no mind to Techno, who stood awkwardly off to the side, obviously uncertain of what to do with himself.

Tommy was staring blankly at his hands when Ranboo returned with the glass. The injured teen didn’t look up at him, wordlessly accepting the cup of water and taking a sip.

Ranboo sat down beside him, tail subconsciously moving to brush against Tommy’s back. 

He took the glass back when Tommy was done, setting it on the bedside table.

Neither of them said anything for a long while, though Ranboo’s brain was running at a mile a minute.

Overrun with confused thoughts about what could have happened and white hot fury directed towards Dream that he was too scared to touch on.

Tommy was the first to break the silence, speaking up in a small voice that Ranboo almost didn’t recognize as the spirited teen’s. “Why did you save me.” He sounded broken.

It hurt to hear that in Tommy’s voice.

“I’m not gonna lie to you Tommy, but I don’t actually remember. I can’t remember anything from yesterday,” Ranboo started.

His tail curled lightly around Tommy’s midsection, “But I know for a _fact_ that you didn’t deserve to be stuck in there with _him._ I couldn’t just sit by and do nothing as he took your last life.”

Another beat of silence passed before Tommy gave a response.

“Then why did no one come for me sooner? Why did- why would Sam just- just _leave me in there?_ Why didn’t Philza come and save me?”

Ranboo could hear the soft plop of tears dripping from Tommy’s face, landing on his forearms and clothing.

“Sorry… I don’t know,” Ranboo whispered, feeling his own eyes start to sting with unshed tears.

Tommy laughed bitterly, staggering to his feet with his fists clenched at his side. “Right, of course, how could I be so foolish. None of them care about me- no one in this stupid fucking server has ever really cared about me,” he scoffed, continuing before Ranboo could open his mouth to dispute.

“All Sam cares about is his fuckin’ prison, and Philza-” Tommy’s voice wavered, taking a shaky gasp of air, “If Phil ever really cared about me, he would’ve bothered to _fucking visit_ Wilbur and I- to visit _me-_ at least once when we were growing up and had to goddamn _raise ourselves!”_ Tommy shouted, pushing through the door.

The teen stiffened and stumbled back a half step. Ranboo was at his side in an instant, falling back on his instincts to keep the younger safe.

“Of course fucking _Technoblade_ is here,” Tommy scoffed.

Techno appeared calm as he stroked Steve’s fur, but Ranboo could see the anxiety in the way the man’s fingers kept tapping and his shoulders stayed faintly tensed.

Tommy stayed rooted in his spot, jaw clenched. “Have you been having _fun_ out here with Phil during your fuckin’ retirement, eh? I doubt you’re actually retired- _ha,_ what a _fucking joke!”_

Tommy’s expression went dark, “Don’t think I haven’t forgotten about that favour you owe Dream. Green bastard made sure to remind me of that before he nearly choked me out,” he hissed.

Techno held Tommy’s gaze the entire time- though something had changed in his eyes. Ranboo couldn’t quite tell what it was, he didn’t know Techno well enough to read the meanings behind it.

“Hey Toms. Did you wanna come pet Steve?” Techno asked, monotone voice holding the slightest hint of softness to it.

Tommy’s lower lip began to quiver at the nickname, frantically rubbing at the tears that spilled from his eyes faster than he could clear them.

“Fuck you. You are shit at naming things, he very clearly looks like more of a Terry,” Tommy snapped, though he was already moving closer.

Ranboo watched in distant fascination as Tommy fearlessly approached Steve, despite having never met the bear before, and flopped into the giant animal’s soft white coat. The bear didn’t care, already so used to Ranboo’s surprise hugs and Techno falling asleep against his side on some nights.

Steve merely bumped his snout against the side of Tommy’s face before settling down with a tired huff and drooping eyes.

Something buzzed in Ranboo’s pocket, making him wrinkle his nose before pulling out the communicator with a cracked screen.

He frowned at the fractured glass, but clicked the device on regardless.

**Tubbo_: HEY BIF GIY WANNA WOIK ON THE HOREL**

Ranboo glanced over at the two brothers.

They were both hugging Steve, though one of Techno’s arms had ended up protectively holding Tommy. If Ranboo strained his ears, he could hear the way their breathing had already evened out with sleep.

Despite everything, Ranboo let himself smile at the sight.

**Ranboo: I would love to**

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if I missed any warnings or tags at the beginning. 
> 
> That stream ended and I started writing and the only times I stopped was when Ranboo and Puffy streamed, and even then, I was still writing during that.
> 
> I'm rooting for Puffy to fuck shit up and bitch slap some people in the face o7
> 
> I stg, I was so close to killing Dream in this fic. His rp character has so many of the things that I hate in people. I know that some people are apologists towards him, or just find his character interesting in general- but I would gladly punt his character into the sun, given the chance. The only thing saving Dream in this fic was my own personal rule against killing any cc's in my fics. (This is all talking about the rp character's ofc, actual Dream is all gucci imo)
> 
> Right, probably gonna go continue writing the thing I was working on before Tommy started streaming. That or Imma boutta pass out, we'll see which one comes first, lol.
> 
> Stay safe everyone, take care of yourselves <3


End file.
